Illinois Issues: Five join legislative internship Hall of Fame

The Samuel K. Gove Illinois Legislative Internship Hall of Fame will honor five individuals who have served as legislative interns at the state Capitol. John Day, Claire B. Eberle, Stephen R. Pacey, Lee J. Schwartz and Gretchen A. Winter will be inducted during a ceremony at the Executive Mansion on Monday, November 16. Inductees are selected based on their contributions to Illinois and its citizens. The Hall of Fame is also recognition of the important role public service internships play in developing public sector leadership.

Day retired in 2003 as assistant executive director at Illinois’ Teachers Retirement System (TRS) after 10 years with the system. Prior to employment with TRS, he was executive director of the Legislative Audit Commission, worked with the Senate Democratic staff and was a legislative intern from 1970-71. Day is a resident of Rochester.

Eberle is deputy director of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) for the Illinois General Assembly. She has been with JCAR since 1986, previously serving on the Senate president’s staff from 1976 to 1978. She was a member of the legislative intern class of 1975. Eberle resides in Springfield.

Schwartz was a Chicago attorney in private practice at the time of his death in 2002. A member of the legislative intern class of 1966, he was described as an expert on the state constitution. He served as legal counsel to Jack Touhy, then-speaker of the House, and former state Senate Minority Leader Thomas Arthur “Art” McGloon. He made the transition to Chicago politics, where he served in similar positions for Chicago Mayors Richard J. Daley, Michael Bilandic and Harold Washington.

Pacey has served as Ford County’s resident circuit judge since 1996. Previously, he was a commissioner with the Illinois Court of Claims and a public defender for Ford County. A life-long Paxton resident, Pacey spent 22 years in private legal practice. He was a member of the 1970 legislative intern class.

Winter has been the executive director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society in the College of Business of the University of Illinois since 2007. The Center is located in Chicago. A member of the 1979 intern class, she has more than 25 years of law firm, public sector and corporate experience and frequently speaks on the topics of professional responsibility, business ethics, compliance, governance, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

Illinois Issues, sponsor of the Hall of Fame, is the state’s leading public policy magazine, published at the University of Illinois Springfield. The Hall of Fame is named for Samuel Gove, one of the magazine’s founders and a longtime director of the internship program. Both the magazine and the Illinois Legislative Staff Internship Program are part of UIS’ Center for State Policy and Leadership. The Hall of Fame was established in 1990, and this year’s event, which occurs biennially, will be its 10th anniversary. The Hall of Fame now includes 49 individuals, among them a former governor and several former and current state legislators. The names of the Hall’s members are inscribed on a plaque that hangs on the fourth floor of the Statehouse.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. on November 16, with a reception followed by the induction ceremony. Tickets are $60 per person. For information on attending, call 217-206-6084.